Healthcare Reform Update

House passes healthcare reform measure by 219-212 tally.
In what media reports and analyses are casting as a historic development and a major win for President Obama, the House Sunday night passed the Senate-approved healthcare reform measure by 219-212. The AP (3/22) notes that after passing the bill, the House proceeded to approve "key changes" to it, "part of a prearranged agreement to guarantee passage of the historic legislation. The changes passed by a 220-211 vote. That bill now goes to the Senate for final approval, where it only requires a simple majority to pass."
Most stories are describing the bill in largely favorable terms -- and the vote as a triumph of the political system as a whole. The vote, reports USA Today (3/22, Wolf, Fritze), "assured that about 32 million Americans will gain health insurance coverage, and millions more will win protections against losing theirs." The Los Angeles Times (3/22, Levey, Hook, Silva, Muskal) reports that "House Democratic leaders proved they could hold the majority caucus together," though "thirty-four Democrats opposed the bill, as did all Republicans."
It was, Bloomberg News (3/22, Litvan, Rowley, Jensen) notes, "the most sweeping US healthcare legislation in four decades," and "the biggest victory yet for...Obama."
The Los Angeles Times (3/22, Nicholas) reports, "Rarely does a president bet everything on a single card, but...Obama did it on healthcare," and "what became clear in the...debate is that Obama is a president with a combative stubbornness, one that was not often visible in his cool, above-the-fray public demeanor."
In a front-page story, the New York Times (3/22, A1, Pear, Herszenhorn) notes that "Democrats hailed the vote as historic, comparable to the establishment of Medicare and Social Security and a long overdue step forward in social justice."
In a front-page analysis titled "A Major Victory, But At What Cost?", the New York Times (3/22, A1, Sanger) says that "Obama is now assured, whatever the ultimate cost, of going down in history as one of the handful of presidents who found a way to reshape the nation's social welfare system," and has "proved that he is willing to fight for something that moved him to his core."
The Washington Post (3/22, Branigin, Murray, Kane) reports, "After 9 1/2 hours of often contentious floor debate, parliamentary maneuvers and procedural votes, the House reached a major milestone in Obama's year-long effort to overhaul the nation's $2.5 trillion healthcare system."